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Volume CXVIII No. 14
Established 1904
Friday, February 5, 2021
Hoboken clears seniors for vaccine preregistration BY ZANE THUMMBORST
Contributing Reporter
Life looks a little different in 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic – students wear masks and socially distance themselves to stay safe. Photo courtesy of @followstevens on Instagram.
New SGA constitution fails to pass, plans to move forward begin BY GIANNA CALLEGARI Staff Writer
On December 14, 2020, the Student Government Association (SGA) at Stevens set forth a new constitution. This constitution was set to pass upon receiving a 2/3 vote of approval from at least 1/3 of the undergraduate student-body. However, there was a lack of student participation in the voting process, resulting in the newly-written constitution’s failure to pass. The SGA must now move forward with its current constitution. According to the SGA’s current President, E.J. Hannah, this new constitution “has been an ongoing process for several years now,” since the current constitution was passed in 2016. For years, the SGA has expressed
wishes for a new constitution through brainstorming and collecting many “long standing ideas.” However, as Hannah explained, “the actual writing of this new constitution began halfway through this past fall semester,” as the previous Cabinet resigned, and a new one was elected. The new SGA assembled an informal “restructuring committee” to write the new constitution. This committee mainly consisted of Cabinet members, Senators, and any students that expressed an interest in bettering the organization. This new constitution was meant to serve as a building block for an increase in student involvement within the Association, demonstrating a more democratic election process. It was also set forth in order to fix some of the faults
within the current constitution. Students involved with the SGA have found that the current constitution “has a handful of shortcomings,” as stated by President Hannah. “The restructure committee was looking to resolve many of these shortcomings and modify the constitution to better align with our values.” The new constitution was meant to support aspects such as ranked-choice voting, representation of alternate Senators, and more democratic elections. Through implementing such facets, President Hannah noted that “the new constitution was aiming to increase student engagement, transparency, and streamline our overly bureaucratic workflow.”
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At the beginning of the new year, the number of COVID-19 cases in the City of Hoboken had spiked within only a few weeks. Rising cases statewide forced New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to respond by extending the State of Emergency in New Jersey for another 30 days. Hoboken continues to roll out tests to its population, while also addressing new plans of action now that vaccinations are becoming available, such as preregistration for seniors. In a newsletter from Councilman Phil Cohen addressing the current pandemic, he stated, “Hoboken began vaccinating our seniors, as one of the first municipalities in New Jersey to do so, on the first date permitted by the State.” Alongside the senior community members, law enforcement, healthcare workers, and first responders have also been cleared to receive vaccinations due to unavoidable risk of exposure. To
Photo courtesy of Trevor Dameika.
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Pictured above is an on-campus COVID-19 testing site. Photo courtesy of Chloe Brenna.
Campus life restrictions continue amidst pandemic BY JORDYN RAMELLI
The new University Towers are standing tall on campus, set to open in Spring 2022. Construction has improved drastically since all students were last on campus in March 2020.
show support for Hoboken’s plans, Councilman Cohen announced, “Hoboken is pre-registering our seniors to receive appointments for their COVID-19 vaccinations. Currently, more than 1,900 seniors have pre-registered, reflecting our seniors’ great demand and enthusiasm for being protected from this awful disease.“ Preregistration is available to seniors 65 and up in the hopes to reduce hospital delays for making appointments. Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla of Hoboken commented on preregistration, “We want to make sure that when the day comes for our seniors to get vaccinated, we’re ready to efficiently schedule as many appointments as possible with our medical providers. This process is the latest way we as a City are prioritizing the health of our most vulnerable populations, and I encourage all seniors or family and friends of seniors to pre-register online as soon as possible.”
The capacity of the number Contributing Reporter of students in the dining hall and library was explained As the spring semester in an email to The Stute by of 2021 begins, the status of Sara Klein, Assistant Vice Stevens’ campus is undergo- President for Student Afing necessary changes due to fairs. She states, “We are utiCOVID-19. In order for stu- lizing all spaces on campus dents to stay safe and still at their fullest capacity in have a worthwhile college accordance with state guideexperience, campus services lines. If the state updates the have either been limited to guidelines, we will consider promote community health, making subsequent changes or they have been temporar- to room occupancy.” Athletic and recreation ily closed. Areas of campus such as dining, the library, facilities opened on Monday, athletic facilities, and the February 1. Facilities will campus lounge have limited only be open to students living on campus and athletes and adjusted hours. With regard to campus in order to keep the comdining, all dining locations munity safe. The operating are operating on adjusted hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours which started on Feb- Monday through Friday, and ruary 1, which can be found 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday on their website. They are and Sunday. Starting February 1, the also offering mobile ordercampus lounge will open ing for pickup and delivery through the Grubhub app. as well. The campus lounge Additionally, in order for space, also known as the students to study at the Sam- Bissinger Room, located on uel C. Williams Library, they Read the full story are advised to reserve a spot through the library’s website. on thestute.com